Worse Things I Could Do
by theywillneverknow
Summary: L/J One-shot. Based on the song from 'Grease' and looking at James and Lily's relationship before they got together. Just a bit of fun really.


_**Disclaimer: **__Not mine; the characters or the song__**Summary: One-shot **__Based on the song from 'Grease' and looking at James and Lily's relationship before they got together. Just a bit of fun really. __**Note: **__Unedited, quick, half hour jobby that I did because I had a spare 30 minutes and I felt inspired. Any comments are welcomed._

_Worse things I could do…_

_There are worse things I could do_

_Then go with a girl, or two._

It was rather pleasant, to be honest. Here he was, James Potter, stuck in a broom closet with Madeline Gorret and she had, quite deliciously, stuck her tongue down his throat. The girl was pretty, he had to grant her that. She had long blonde hair, currently tied back in plaits, and dark grey eyes that smoldered under dark eyelashes. She was a…nice person too. She was quite chatty and friendly, but didn't seem to have much of a personality. There was no fire in her. It was a shame because she really was a half decent kisser.

Light suddenly flooded into the broom closet and the two wrenched apart, guiltily. James blinked, trying to adjust to the blinding light, still not being able to see the figure standing with hands on hips in the doorway.

There was a snort.

"For God's sake, Potter. Get your sorry arse back to the Gryffindor common room before I take off points. You too, Madeline. The Hufflepuff common room, mind you. I don't want to have to witness _that_ again."

He would recognise that voice anywhere. Lily Marie Evans. His vision was becoming clearer and, he had to admit, that she looked like a heavenly angel. With her red hair down from that constricting bun she normally wore and flowing about her shoulders, the light from behind her made her look like some ethereal being. Her emerald eyes glinted, even in the semi-darkness, and she began to turn around, continuing her prefect rounds, no doubt. James turned back to Madeline, who was now shyly standing up, and he confessed that comparing the two girls there was no contest.

"So, I'll...umm I'll see you around James." And with that said, she departed with a kiss on the cheek and she ran back to her common room, intent on divulging the entire scene to her friends or anybody else that would listen. He watched her run away and knew he would be spending the next week avoiding her and her friends. He ran a hand over his face and took off after his red headed beauty in the opposite direction. Catching up to her wasn't hard; she had been checking all the classrooms meticulously. He slowed his pace to walk in step with her.

"What do you want, Potter?" She asked and without looking at him, opened another door. She peered into the darkness scanning for any sign of trouble before slamming it shut again. He ran a hand through his hair as he watched her and grinned down at the petite girl.

"There's a Hogsmeade trip this weekend and I was wondering if you wanted to go. We could go for a few butterbeers." He waggled his eyebrows at her in what he hoped was a particularly suggestive manner. "And then I know a little place great for making out. What do you say?" She raised an eyebrow at him.

"What do I say? Hmm, let's think about this." She paused dramatically and tapped her chin with her forefinger as she contemplated his question before she dropped the façade and rolled her eyes. "No! You great, insufferable womanizer!" With that said, she stormed off down the Main staircase to inspect the second floor. He started after her in a bid to change her mind before the night was through.

"Go back to your common room, Potter."

He ignored her with a shrug and put a foot on the first step of the staircase.

"Now!"

He yelped, his eyebrows shooting into his hair and he walked off in the other direction, heading for his warm bed and wondering how she was able to preempt his actions and indeed marveled at how she was able to scare him quite so easily.

_Even though this girl I know,_

_Thinks I'm trouble and no-good._

"Potter! What the hell are you doing?" The boy stopped turning the Slytherin in the air with his wand and the fifth year dropped to the floor with a dull thump.

"Nothing?"

_I suppose it could be true…_

_But there are worse things I could do._

"Just stop it!" The red head demanded as she glared at him with a stare to rival his mother's. He sighed and rolled his eyes, tucking his wand away he heard a disappointed sigh sweep through the small crowd that had gathered to watch the entertainment. She was acting like hexing a Slytherin was the end of the world. Who cared about _Snape_ anyway?

"Fine, Evans. But can I go and prank someone else with your permission?" He caught her gaze, a cheeky glint in his, a steely emotion close to hatred burning in hers. His hazel eyes were drowning in her emerald depths, sinking deeper as he fought with every fiber of his being not to blink and look away from that powerful gaze. Her stare intensified and she pursed her lips as she folded her arms.

"No. Can't you grow up? Can't you stop being such a prick? For once?" She still hadn't blinked. He looked away and surrendered.

His red head left with an irritated sigh.

_I could stay home every night_

_Wait around for Mrs Right._

He leant over her in the library.

"Boo." It was a soft whisper, the air exhaled barely grazing her creamy skin but she yelped and grasped her chest as she drew deep breaths.

"Prat." She murmured, before shooting a glare his way. He chuckled and passed a hand through his midnight locks as he sat beside her. Lily had returned to her book, jade eyes wandering across the page, soaking up each line in a desperate bid to drink more information in.

"What would it take for you to give me a chance?" He asked, leaning an arm on the table and studying her intently, tracing her nose and the curve of her lips. She looked up at him in shock.

"What?"

"A chance. From you, to me. What would I have to do?" She looked at him thoughtfully for a minute. Her hands released her book and it slumped onto the table with a dull noise. Her brow furrowed as she considered him; his question, his pose, him. He wouldn't look away, not this time. He wouldn't give in to her. He couldn't face another defeat. She still hadn't blinked though and he could feel himself weakening. The silence was deafening, voices screamed in his head to say something.

Anything.

"I mean, I can't wait around forever for you to fall into my bed, right?"

He felt his lips pull into a grin but winced on the inside. Her eyes shut down as the cold exterior was put back up and he realized he had just ruined what could possibly have been his best chance to have a decent conversation with her.

'Why say bed? Why say something like that? You idiot!'

She stood up and left without a word or a look back to see James banging his head on the table, much to the librarian's disgust.

_Take cold showers every day, and throw my life away On a dream that won't come true_

They were just walking around the grounds. Just the four of them, the way he liked it.

Sirius was talking loudly and animatedly about some date he had been on with disastrous results, Peter was listening enthralled and laughing in all the right places whilst Moony shook his head with a smile on his face that revealed nothing of what he really thought, as usual. James was so distracted by his friends that he barely noticed the giggling until it was passing right by him. He turned to look to his left and gaped at the vision before him.

Lily Evans.

Running away from Marly who was shooting water from her wand.

And giggling?

But this was not what had stopped him in his tracks. Far be it for him to criticize Lily for enjoying the heat of a rather pleasant May morning. It was what she was wearing that had him rather hot under the collar. It was modest enough; a little green T-shirt that was not overly revealing and what he would have to describe as a skirt.

As if that scrap of material could be deemed a skirt.

And as if the sight of all that creamy never-before-seen thigh had not been enough, as she had run past him her skirt had flipped. Up. At. The. Back. James was forced to gulp as he spotted the curve of her….

Oh sweet Merlin above. He really needed a cold shower.

_I could hurt someone like me, _

_out of spite or jealousy._

"Oy, Diggory!" The raven haired man cried out to the quidditch captain being carried on the shoulders of his team mates, an image that left James seething with jealousy and rage. The smiling teenager turned, still grinning to face his beaten opponent expecting perhaps a congratulation, albeit begrudgingly. It was then that James twisted his lips into a cruel smile.

"We all know you only won because Daddy bought the team new brooms. Afraid you won't win if it's down to talent?" The Hufflepuff's face fell and he glared angrily at the beaten Gryffindor, before being carried away by the still cheering team. James smirked, that should leave a sour taste in the boy's mouth. Just as he had now. He turned to go and put his broom back and came face to face with Lily Evans.

"Alright, Evans? Come to bask in my failure?" He asked with a bitter smile curling his mouth. The red head stood, her hair streaking in the wind and her face fell.

"No. I came to tell you that you played well," his eyes bugged and he gaped at her honesty, before grinning cockily, "but I'm so disappointed in you. How could you say that to Amos? You're a git, Potter. An absolute git and I hope you rot."

His face revealed his surprise at her words and she walked calmly away from him. That had hurt more than all the times she had shouted at him and the few times she had slapped him. It felt like she had plunged a knife into his stomach and twisted. With an unnerving bubble of guilt and shame welling in his stomach, he made his way back to the changing rooms, intent on apologising to Diggory as soon as he could.

_I don't steal and I don't lie,_

_but I can feel and I can cry._

There she was, sat at her usual spot in the Gryffindor common room, reading some muggle book her mother had given her for Christmas. He took a deep breath in and walked over, slipping into the seat next to her without a word. She turned and looked at him cautiously.

"Potter." She acknowledged him with a nod of her head and he almost sighed. Almost.

"Evans."

They sat for a little while, her reading and him playing with his hands nervously, glancing over her shoulder every other minute. Eventually, she put down her book and turned to him.

"What is it?" She asked impatiently.

"Urm..well."

'Here goes nothing'

"Evans, I really like you. I really, _really_ like you. And err..I know we haven't got on that well over the last few years but I was wondering if we could start afresh." Watching her unchanging features, his voice turned almost desperate. "Merlin, Lil, IthinkIloveyou and I just want you to give me a chance. That's all I'm asking. Please? We can start all over again and get to know each other, without listening to half hearted rumours and gossip we hear around school. So, what do you say?"

He paused waiting for a reaction. Nothing. Panicking, he attempted to steer the conversation back to where he had wanted to go.

"Hello, I'm James Potter." He stuck out his hand for her to shake.

She raised an eyebrow at this and simply laughed. Packing away her stuff, she made it up the dormitory stairs, still chuckling.

He leant back into the sofa.

"Merlin, Lil, I love you."

She laughed at him, like it was a joke. No. Like _he_ was a joke. Pain shot through him, the hot, stabbing pain of rejection. He felt the stinging of tears prick the back of his eyes and willed them not to fall. James Potter does not cry.

He doesn't.

Ever.

But despite all this his shoulders rippled with the tell tale sign of crying and he fought back a muffled sob. He couldn't believe this was happening. James Potter does not cry. He doesn't even have tear ducts. He clenched his fists in an attempt to pull himself together and at least seem a little more manly.

_A fact I'll bet you never knew But to cry in front of you,_

_That's the worst thing I could do_

He turned as he heard a noise on the stairs. There she was, slightly blurry but unmistakable all the same. Lily Evans was coming back down to retrieve her abandoned book. He couldn't believe she had seen him crying. Embarrassment flooded through his body causing another tear to slip un-noticed from his drowning chocolate eyes. She couldn't believe it either as she traced the hard outline of tears on his face. He willed himself to stop crying but could not stop the drops from falling down his cheeks, each one a tiny confession, a testimony to her and her cruelty. Failing that he willed himself to turn away but found his eyes once more locked in that iron gaze and sunk further into the couch in shame.

Her hand flew to her mouth and she let out a small gasp. And the next thing he knew she was flying back up the stairs where he heard her bedroom door slam. His head slammed onto the back of the couch in utter frustration and an insane urge to cause himself physical pain. Clearly, cushions were not the answer. Finally his eyes were drawn to the coffee table.

The forgotten book lay cold and alone on the table. She loved that book, despite the fact that she had labeled it as a 'stupid romance' novel she had stumbled across. She would not retrieve it that night but he knew that eventually she would have to.

And he would wait.

_That's the worst thing I could do. _

END


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